Hot Blooded

 Phase One of our long con on SimSoft and SiNet had paid off, and just in time.  We had the new anthrodrone that we'd stolen from CyberTek, but until now very little money for outfitting them.  This was a big payoff for us.  Even with putting aside 20K for anticipated legal fees for Phase Two, that still left us with 10K each, and 10K for the group projects fund.  I had passed out the credsticks, and we were all a little giddy.  The entire group was at the Sanctuary, and it was as close to a celebration as

we've ever had.  Oh, sure, I was trying to pass on some advice, such as, "This might be a good time to invest in drone armor, weapons, and clothing," but I might as well have been saying "blah, blah, blah," for all anyone heard.  I'd already done a bit of shopping, but I don't think anyone else had much time for it yet.

This was unfortunate, because in the midst of our revelry, our comms spontaneously switched to a news report.  The 'caster was saying, "...terror in the streets as these strange, glowing figures are attacking everyone in sight. Law Enforcement has been alerted, and is working to blockade the area, but it's unclear how many people may still be in danger. If you're in the affected district, we advise you to stay inside, do not open your doors, and wait for an all-clear..."

All voices hushed, and we exchanged meaningful glances.  It had been a few weeks since we had received a bona fide Peaches mission.  I guess we were overdue.  The autochef itself hadn't spoken, but, as Katrya put it, "Does it really matter?  We know."

Some of the banter continued, but the party atmosphere had vanished.  We were now all business.  We already knew, from our time in the sewers, and our conversation with Ms. Blackrose, that the reporter was speaking of torchwraiths.  First we learned the location of the invasion, and then immediately moved on to battle plans.  We loaded ourselves, and my two drones, into Katrya's van.  EllieRocks took her new anthro along as well, even though she hadn't yet outfitted it.  Along the way, I outlined a basic battle strategy.  

"Remember these things explode, so if you're a close-up fighter, deliver a couple of hits and back off, let the ranged fighters finish them."  I had enjoyed exactly enough free time to prepare one (and only one) fake ID, of the most inferior quality, which I gave to Mauger because I knew from past experience that he would want to stake out a sniper position on a rooftop again.  

That was about all we had time for before arriving at the destination, in a southeast district.  Frank found us a side street that hadn't been blockaded yet, and we piled out.  Rounding the corner, we saw a literal mob of the glowing humanoid abominations that we'd taken such pains to avoid fighting on that night in the sewers, so many weeks ago.  And now, here we were, about to confront at least a dozen of them.

Aru certainly must have been itching for a fight.  He wasted no time, rushing forwarding and slicing into one of the shining figures.  He cut it to ribbons, and leaped away, just as we had planned.  It promptly exploded, although not with much force at all.  Huh.  Well, okay.  He could have picked a weak one.  

I unslung my rifle, taking a moment to issue some instructions to Parker.  "Take control of the drones," I told her.  "Medic mode priority, combat mode secondary."  Then I drew a bead on a different wraith and fired.  This one, too, instantly became a shower of sparks.  Two duds in a row?

Katrya, meanwhile, pulled the same stunt as Aru, only on two of them, both of which were quickly dispatched.  She expressed a distrust of the entire situation, which I silently shared.  I may not have her experience with monsters, but I have been taught a healthy paranoia when it comes to "easy money."

Our unease quickly became justified when Mauger fired his new chemical-explosive rifle, striking a wraith dead center.  His target did not cooperatively dissipate; it just grew a shiny hole in its middle and kept moving.  In fact, they all were moving, quickly making a shambles out of our "jab-and-retreat" strategy.  It quickly became apparent that, given half a chance, they would surround any slower-moving members of our group.  

Katrya quickly realized this.  She was one of the first to be hit by a wraith, her clothing and fur singing with the heat of its strikes.  Not that she was of a mind to retreat.  No, she was having none of my suggested "jab and pull back" strategy, something I'll have to remember in the future.  This one was more of a mind to plow through and draw all of the aggression to herself.  Either she has no fear of death, or believes herself immortal.  

The glowsticks wasted no time in coming after us.  Although Katrya did succeed in drawing away a handful of the things, twice that many proceeded to surround us.  One of them even climbed up the side of the building, intent upon burning our sniper.

At this point; our enemy has divided us, rather than the other way around.  If not for EllieRocks' little
"peace sign" signature healing move, we'd have been slain many times over.  I'd ordered Parker to keep Ŝtelita near Katrya, as she'd been completely cut off from any other medical aid, and the crawler doesn't have near enough mobility to keep up with the foxkin.   

I'd just distanced myself after getting a shot off, when I noticed one of the other anthrodrones, just standing around.  Right, one of the kids had brought it, but hadn't told it what to do yet.  I dug out one of the spare medkits I'd brought, back when we were frantically shouting instructions at each other in Sanctuary, and one of my spare C-Cells.  I was about to give it the same general orders that I'd issued to Parker when we entered this street, when ER told it to "go help Katrya."  I managed to hand off the medkit, battery, and my pistol as it rapidly passed me.  I was tempted to count my fingers.  

Mauger escaped his pursuer by ziplining across the street, using his gravity hook.  The thing tried to follow by leaping over the rooftop, and failed to cross the distance, falling to the sidewalk.  He had to pull that maneuver a second time, because it climbed up to chase him, persistent bugger.  It made the second jump, but when it tried to actually attack the halfling, it tripped and fell.  This time, it exploded against the street.

Katrya, having dispatched a few on her own, led the rest of her "fan club" around the block, into the waiting crosshairs of Frank.  

The rest of us did the best we could at ground level, the only divine intervention coming in the form of healing light from ER (and once from me; my first use of magic in a stress situation), and the occasional bandage from Maggy.  Occasionally someone would be KO'd.  Vamir was blinded once, when a wraith exploded.  I would not call this a "peachy" mission.

I won't detail the entire battle blow-by-blow.  I have video logs for that, from multiple camera viewpoints now that we are all sharing our feeds.  From the review, I arrive at a few conclusions.  

1. I can be a bit too single-minded in the heat of the moment.  I missed a call for retreat.  I would have endorsed it, had I heard it at the time.  Not because I believed that we could not win, but because it appeared that we could not win without casualties.  But, because I did not hear it, multiple people did retreat to the safety of Katrya's van, and I did not understand why, and questioned it.  At that point, Katrya adamantly proclaimed that she had no intention of leaving the battle.  Ergo, even if I had heard and acknowledged the retreat, the outcome would have been the same.  I will not abandon any of my people.  Still, I should work on this.  I can't afford to miss critical communication.
2. These torchwraiths come in a wide variety of strengths.  Some of them, you could pop with a pin like a balloon, with about as much effect.  Others are orders of magnitude more dangerous.  And yes, as we were warned, they do indeed heal and "charge up" any nearby wraiths, as we were reminded (with much dismay) early on.  
3. Owing to Katrya's go-to-hell combat style, I should be prepared to dedicate one drone exclusively to her healing in every battle situation.  But I can't tell her that I'm doing that, for precisely the same reason.  She expressly refused help several times.  
4. Speaking of which, the anthrodrones do make good medics, and are excellent in combat, and they follow instructions.  I can understand the appeal of building an army of them.  Note to self:  See about programming them to repair each other.
5. Burning foxkin fur stinks.  Probably burning elven hair is just as bad, so I shouldn't talk (and I need to visit a salon now, badly).  At one point, Mauger half-joked about having Vamir develop a fire-retardant conditioner for fur-bearing people.  I have to wonder if such a product might be more lucrative than anything we've done to date.
6. Mauger's chemical-powered weapon is very noisy, and I'm not entirely certain about the economy of it.  However, it does seem effective.  I'm a bit more doubtful about Vamir's flask-thrower.  We've yet to see a successful field test of that one.  Both Vamir and Varfana seem much more confident with close-range weapons.  Perhaps, with more medics in our ranks, they will start playing to their strengths.
7. We probably would not have emerged as well if not for Frank the TacVan entering the row at the eleventh hour.  If possible, future strategy should include the use of his firepower as well as his safe haven.  
8. Overall, we were not prepared as we should have been, but this call came at us before we'd had a chance to arm and armor the new drones.  But I will say this:  Despite not being a well-oiled machine, the team works.  No one was sacrificed, no one was left behind.  We just might survive the trials to come.

Things are coming to a head in this city.  Faster than any of us would like.  We need to get up to speed.

..::Kai::..